1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an ink tank to be used for printers of the type that makes a recording using liquid ink such as ink-jet printers.
2. Related Art
In an ink tank of a type that is mounted on a carriage so as to communicate with a recording head, various measures have been given to check leakage of ink brought about by ink tank mounting position and the expansion of gases in the ink.
An ink tank proposed by the present applicant in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. Sho. 56-67269 is given such a measure. A negative pressure produced within the tank is balanced with the surface tension of the ink at the tip of a nozzle at all times by deforming the ink tank so as to expand from within by a spring arranged inside the ink tank. Since the ink tank of this type requires that the tank itself be deformed to expand, not only there is a restriction on how the ink tank is mounted on the carriage, but also there is room for improvement with respect to the problem that the ink might leak from the nozzle due to contact with other objects at any moment.